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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Nevada Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Traveling to Colorado to Engage in Sexual Acts with a Minor

A Nevada man was sentenced to 120 months in prison today in Denver for traveling across state lines with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney John F. Walsh of the District of Colorado.

Brian Franklin Howard, 38, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty on Sept. 11, 2015, to one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a 10-year-old minor child in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b). He has been in custody since his arrest on April 2, 2015. U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello of the District of Colorado also ordered Howard to 10 years of supervised release.

According to the plea agreement, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) agent, posing undercover as a single mother of two minor children, came into contact with Howard online. Howard then arranged to meet the mother and her children and flew from Las Vegas to the Denver International Airport, where he met the undercover agent, confirmed his intent to have sex with children and was arrested.

ICE-HSI investigated this case. Trial Attorney James E. Burke IV of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alecia Riewerts of the District of Colorado prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.